Anonymous wrote:https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/freshmen-least-most-likely-return


Most of the top schools have exceptionally high retention rates. There are always going to be those who complain about their experiences. The vast majority of students attending the schools listed above at the upper end of the spectrum must be doing something right. Take that into consideration when reading these comments.

OP here.

There is a HUGE gulf between not recommending a school to your kid and hating it so much that you dropped out. Good grief.
I'm not going to enthusiastically suggest my daughter go to CWRU. I think she can have a better experience elsewhere. However, I wasn't miserable enough that I dropped out and moved home or transferred. The vast, VAST majority of students will stick out a less-than-ideal experience (especially at a competitive school).

Anonymous wrote:University of Richmond. I absolutely loved my time there, but the social scene was dominated by Greek life. In retrospect, not at all healthy, though I was heavily involved at the time.

+1 I had a lot of fun there (probably too much) but it felt insular, dominated by Greek life and kids with a lot of money. I do believe that I got a very good education though. Fortunately, I made friends from VCU and spent more time off campus my senior year and really grew to love the city of Richmond. Crazy that I spent almost no time in the city at all until my senior year. I think it is a great school for the right student but neither of my kids have any interest nor would I encourage them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Georgetown - Graduated in 1989. The school hasn't repaired, replaced or updated one single thing since I was there. Even the graffiti is still there. The same old broken stair railing too !!

They updated some rooms in White-Gravenor. there is tons of new construction since 1989. TONS!

But the old crap is still old and crappy. Yep a few rooms here, a sports field there. It's so very run down for the price. I literally noticed some of the exact same issues from 1989.

As someone who worked at Georgetown for a long time, I can say unequivocally that the campus is a dump. The school is notorious for under-investing in its physical plant. Sure, they put up new buildings once in a while (and have eradicated all green space except Healy Lawn in the process), but they don't maintain their facilities. Academic buildings and residences alike suffer from a myriad of plumbing, sewage, mold, and pest issues -- issues that only grow worse over time.

My kid is deciding between Georgetown and Notre Dame. Not a Catholic but coincidentally turned out that way.
Visited Georgetown and was not impressed that much.
Visiting Notre Dame in two weeks. Hope it turns out better.

I have no doubt it will. Good luck!

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/freshmen-least-most-likely-return


Most of the top schools have exceptionally high retention rates. There are always going to be those who complain about their experiences. The vast majority of students attending the schools listed above at the upper end of the spectrum must be doing something right. Take that into consideration when reading these comments.

Anonymous wrote:VA Tech Engineering.
I recommend my kids to go out of state and explore.

Was this something about the program or just that it was in state and not a change in environment? Would be helpful to have a few specifics. Thanks much.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown - Graduated in 1989. The school hasn't repaired, replaced or updated one single thing since I was there. Even the graffiti is still there. The same old broken stair railing too !!

They updated some rooms in White-Gravenor. there is tons of new construction since 1989. TONS!

But the old crap is still old and crappy. Yep a few rooms here, a sports field there. It's so very run down for the price. I literally noticed some of the exact same issues from 1989.

As someone who worked at Georgetown for a long time, I can say unequivocally that the campus is a dump. The school is notorious for under-investing in its physical plant. Sure, they put up new buildings once in a while (and have eradicated all green space except Healy Lawn in the process), but they don't maintain their facilities. Academic buildings and residences alike suffer from a myriad of plumbing, sewage, mold, and pest issues -- issues that only grow worse over time.

My kid is deciding between Georgetown and Notre Dame. Not a Catholic but coincidentally turned out that way.
Visited Georgetown and was not impressed that much.
Visiting Notre Dame in two weeks. Hope it turns out better.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure it counts as a "good" college, but Syracuse. I had a great time there, but the overall student body is mediocre and not very intelligent, and it is so darn expensive. No way I would let my child attend there today.

+1

+2

agreed

That is interesting to me. I went to a "top" SLAC. The Syracuse grads I have met seem to be motivated entrepreneurial and creative types, versus at my SLAC it was more the standard heading off to law/med school / wall street types. I wouldn't say one group more or less intelligent than the other. Of course my sample size of Syracuse grads is quite small.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown - Graduated in 1989. The school hasn't repaired, replaced or updated one single thing since I was there. Even the graffiti is still there. The same old broken stair railing too !!

They updated some rooms in White-Gravenor. there is tons of new construction since 1989. TONS!

But the old crap is still old and crappy. Yep a few rooms here, a sports field there. It's so very run down for the price. I literally noticed some of the exact same issues from 1989.

As someone who worked at Georgetown for a long time, I can say unequivocally that the campus is a dump. The school is notorious for under-investing in its physical plant. Sure, they put up new buildings once in a while (and have eradicated all green space except Healy Lawn in the process), but they don't maintain their facilities. Academic buildings and residences alike suffer from a myriad of plumbing, sewage, mold, and pest issues -- issues that only grow worse over time.

What about MIT?

Anonymous wrote:Harvard. The opposite of nurturing. Very sink or swim. Lots of teaching by graduate students.

+1 I opted for Harvard over Pomona, and regret it. Focused on excellent LACs for my kids.

Harvard. The opposite of nurturing. Very sink or swim. Lots of teaching by graduate students.

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Anonymous wrote:There are a few specific comments about being a woman at Georgetown and notre dame. These comments caused posters upset and lots of other comments about other schools seemed to just be accepted as run of the mill dcum posts. I think it is the reaction to the posts that seems like the imposters here, not the original posters.

Nope, the reaction was to a poster misrepresenting him/herself as an alum to trash a school. Poster clearly is not an alum because he/she didn't even realize that Notre Dame is Holy Cross, not Jesuit. That's like an alum forgetting what the mascot was for their sports teams. It is simply very unlikely that an alum would mistaken Notre Dame as being a Jesuit institution. Therefore, these are trolls coming on here just to trash a school they hate. These are the people that are discussed in this thread https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1023444.page

Who knows with anonymous posters but my complaint about being female at Georgetown is legit so I don't see why is so outrageous to think someone could have a similar experience at notre dame.

Sure, someone COULD, but that poster DIDN'T because that poster is a liar who did not attend Notre Dame. Funny how she's never come back to defend herself, too -- she knows she got caught.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure it counts as a "good" college, but Syracuse. I had a great time there, but the overall student body is mediocre and not very intelligent, and it is so darn expensive. No way I would let my child attend there today.

+1

+2

agreed

Anonymous wrote:Clearly is not a word I would use for any post on dcum ever.

LOL, yes, best post for the day, maybe even for early 2022.

Anonymous wrote:Cornell. Very depressed student body and too competitive. Plus the weather and location do not help with depression

Eh I don't think it was nearly as competitive as people often make it out to be. My experience at Cornell was nothing like what the people from say Berkeley here are describing. Even though classes are graded on a curve, and yes you want to do your best, students are still happy to make study groups and help each other out. Plus I liked that there were a lot of nerdy folks who weren't just interested in drinking and partying all the time. There is a ton of work and the everlasting prelim/midterm season doesn't help but many schools with rigorous STEM classes are also stressful. There are a ton of mental health programs on campus nowadays to help with the stress.

The weather is definitely sucky though but at least the campus is beautiful in the spring and fall.

What I will say is that since Cornell is so isolated, the "everyone will take care of stuff for you and you will make awesome connections" thing doesn't happen as much. For example I found UMD has a lot more "ins" to govt jobs and internships at companies than Cornell does. People value Ivies for the connections their kids make, and at Cornell you kind of have to work to make the connections yourself instead of having them handed to you, which makes it less valuable for networking. For example at Harvard my friend was handed a summer internship in a Nobel laureate's lab, just for doing well in an intro Biology class. This would never happen at Cornell.

Well, I guess Cornell is known as a lower Ivy for a reason lol.